[Drama 2019] Shady Mom in Law, 수상한 장모

[celebrianna]

@msmy thanks for the spoilers. I find this daily really interesting. The pacing is good too. One of the things that I really enjoy is how likeable the characters are for the most part except shady mom. The chairman is enjoyable to watch and even if he knows how useless or greedy some of his family members are, he tolerates them and it’s clear that he still love them in spite of these shortcomings. 

 

EDIT: The episode was very good today and tomorrow’s episode looks very interesting. Eun Seok is in Jenny’s work room and while hidden in the dressing room, he hears shady mom telling Man Soo how Eun Seok is a stalker and he’s in Japan and Man Soo needs to protect her. He also heard her say she put a stop to him being able to contact Jenny. I guess Eun Seok now realizes it must be that she tampered with the cell phone. At the end Jenny comes in the work room and asked shady mom and Man Soo what are they doing there. 

 

In the preview it looks like Eun Seok gave Jenny the recording of the pickpocket and perhaps what he said about shady mom. I hope he also gave her the CCTV of shady mom paying the pickpocket and him giving her back Jenny’s bag etc.

 

Also, I forgot to mention that it does look like Kyung In will have a love line with Young Man because she’s looking a job and he’s looking a secretary for his new business.

[tulip06]

So, right now, I like two shady side characters, Eunji and Mansoo because I think they have it tough having to manage all this nonsense around them. I want Eunji to become a little cleverer, though, and take her grandpa and Eun Suk's side completely, and ditch her mom and bro, but that's hard in filial SK.

Man Soo can manage himself. He seems to have money and connections.

 

It seems like Man Soo has figured out the relationship between Song Ah and Jenny and knows he wants to protect Jenny from Shady Mom.  Maybe that's why he wants to marry Jenny?  I can't imagine falling in love with Jenny, though, if you've gone though a hard-knock life.  She is such a blank slate.  Okay, I get that Eun Suk is in love with her, but let's face it, Eun Suk is a bit a of a blank slate too.  They seem to match each other without much depth.

 

And I am getting so fed up with how the two families in the house are so meant to be.  Urgh.  Wait until Kyung In brings  Young Man home.

 

 

[celebrianna]

@tulip06, I actually enjoy the scenes with the two families in the house. I don’t mind the “meant to be” aspect because it’s in every drama show I’ve watched with any kind of loveline.  It’s just a given. I’m just really grateful that the bad people plot doesn’t overshadow the good feelings I want to enjoy from this drama. Too many drama shows make some of the characters so bad and so invincible that I eventually drop them most of the time. I like that this show has balance unlike “Love to the End” where the female villain got her way for 100 episodes out of 104. 

[Lmangla]

LOL @tulip06 ~ am enjoying reading your posts and take on the drama. it just cracks me up. sadly, it looks like kyung in will be young man's secretary. how the worlds collide. @celebrianna ~ am groaning at the idea of the romance between really dumb and sort of tubelight girl! hahahahha... like tulip06 noted, that would be one awkward family dinner!

 

but am enjoying the softer, somber romance of dong joo and song ah. even the rain song was pretty hilarious as dong joo was making faces while running from the rain. that face! but at least it was a red umbrella! hahahah.. it always seems like rain scenes these days have yellow umbrellas. but does anyone enjoy running in the rain?

 

if you haven't listened to the rain song in ages, here you go....

 

 

 

and the preview was really exciting. what exactly does man soo know and what is he protecting jenny from? why wait so long if he knows jenny and song ah are related? why did he burn the DNA certificate and what exactly is his goal? he is definitely interesting to watch!

 

@lu09 ~ not sure of the reason but it looks like many of the daily dramas didn't air yesterday...

[0ly40]

preview june 14

 

[lu09]

It's unlucky year for shady lady lol. She really provoked ES Imao and he is gonna make sure Jenny sees her for who she really is. How stupid could she have been to get caught in that camera at the stairs lol. And since when did those stairs ever have a camera? 

 

MS has become a punching bag for ES and Jenny lol. I can't wait for tonight's episode Imao. 

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I was chuckling with the rain scene for Songah and Dongjoo. It felt reminiscent of an old show.  I just appreciate the lack of aggravation I get from their scenes. I’m just simply entertained and I like that. When shady mom is getting away with her manipulation of Ms. Naive, I can barely watch because of how gullible Ms. Naive is. My patience is hanging by a thread during those scenes. 

 

@lu09 But Man Soo is the one to punch Eun Seok first. I like Man Soo but since his advances are always and persistently rejected, he should be a gentleman about it and back off. If he continue to persist, then any hurt that he suffers is his own doing. 

[msmy]

Yes, the corny "rain showers"  when it's obvious that the sun is out is pretty over the top.  I'm sure some other special moment could have been created to get the same "romantic vibe".

 

The preview with Jenny saying to Man Soo, "Do you even know what's happening to me right now?,"  and his answer being "Yes, I know", seems significant.  I'm curious as to where this is going with their relationship, or  what his plan is.  Could the 3  (Jenny, MS, and ES) team up?  The DNA test, done 11 years ago, only showed a match to individual A and individual B, so we only know for sure that one of them is Song Ah.  He didn't know Jenny then, did he?

[Lmangla]

1 hour ago, lu09 said:

How stupid could she have been to get caught in that camera at the stairs lol. And since when did those stairs ever have a camera? 

kekekek.... maybe she is out of practice? cctv wasn't prevalent 25 years ago when she was active as black rose. so maybe it didn't strike her at all. besides it looks like old habit for her to get jenny hurt in some way and she never got caught before. so yea, definitely not her year.

 

1 hour ago, celebrianna said:

@Lmangla, I was chuckling with the rain scene for Songah and Dongjoo. It felt reminiscent of an old show.  I just appreciate the lack of aggravation I get from their scenes.

same. it actually feels refreshing at how slow paced and old fashioned these two are. kind of soothing.

 

1 hour ago, celebrianna said:

When shady mom is getting away with her manipulation of Ms. Naive, I can barely watch because of how gullible Ms. Naive is. My patience is hanging by a thread during those scenes. 

have zero expectation of jenny as she is forever in lala land and so it is almost become more amusing to me than anything else. even a small child would ask more questions on how a phone number can disappear and start fiddling with the phone to figure out what went wrong. ... like @tulip06 said, jenny is kind of bland. and have to agree that eun seok is also like a robotic bland. so they match well. hahahaha... well difference is he has some brains for the moment.

 

actually even the aunt, chairman and eunji were cracking me up in this episode. chairman's response to her dismay that yong man would work as a security guard was pretty hilarious as well as eunji's attempt to be in chairman's books. aunt's face on finding yong man wants a female secretary. LOL. does she not know her own son?

 

4 minutes ago, msmy said:

Could the 3  (Jenny, MS, and ES) team up?  The DNA test, done 11 years ago, only showed a match to individual A and individual B, so we only know for sure that one of them is Song Ah.  He didn't know Jenny then, did he?

it doesn't look like jenny has enough brains to join man soo. hahahah... so maybe songah? we know that he was courting jenny for something like 10 years. so maybe he had already cast the net. the question is what he was doing for all these years. was he collecting evidence? waiting for black rose to reveal her nature? in the beginning, actually wondered if he was related to jenny in some form -- like a cousin? and thats why he hasn't actively romantically pursued her.

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I can actually understand how someone like shady mom who doesn’t live in Korea would overlook a camera. Quite frankly, the CCTV thing in drama shows really surprised me. I live in New York and I notice camera for security purposes in the buildings where I work but as far as cameras in a hospital or medical facility, or even on the streets, I hardly notice any. Perhaps there are some but I think most times it’s for traffic. So as an expatriate, it doesn’t seem like she realizes that CCTV cameras are prevalent in Korea.

 

As far as Eun Seok being bland, I do agree but I very much appreciate his intelligence in thwarting shady mom. However, as colorful as, say a character like Young Man is, (drunk, lazy, womanizing, irresponsible, unfeeling, riding on court tails of his rich family) I honestly don’t like trouble makers either although I see him as funny and harmless. In real life this type of person would definitely not be someone I would gravitate towards because I like sensible and responsible people.  I do like Eun Ji, her mother and chairman as well. I just really appreciate the writer doesn’t make them evil. Eun Ji and mom are greedy but not in an aggravating way. I think Eun Seok would be more interesting if he wasn’t so tolerant of them like a goody two shoes.

 

Jenny doesn’t seem to like Man Soo as a person at all so I can’t imagine her teaming up with him. 

[tulip06]

2 hours ago, celebrianna said:

@Lmangla, I was chuckling with the rain scene for Songah and Dongjoo. It felt reminiscent of an old show.  I just appreciate the lack of aggravation I get from their scenes. I’m just simply entertained and I like that. When shady mom is getting away with her manipulation of Ms. Naive, I can barely watch because of how gullible Ms. Naive is. My patience is hanging by a thread during those scenes. 

 

@lu09 But Man Soo is the one to punch Eun Seok first. I like Man Soo but since his advances are always and persistently rejected, he should be a gentleman about it and back off. If he continue to persist, then any hurt that he suffers is his own doing. 

i think Man Soo's advances are about his revenge agenda, not about liking Jenny, and that's why he doesn't back off.

[Lmangla]

4 minutes ago, celebrianna said:

As far as Eun Seok being bland, I do agree but I very much appreciate his intelligence in thwarting shady mom. However, as colorful as, say a character like Young Man is, (drunk, lazy, womanizing, irresponsible, unfeeling, riding on court tails of his rich family) I honestly don’t like trouble makers either although I see him as funny and harmless. In real life this type of person would definitely not be someone I would gravitate towards because I like sensible and responsible people.  I do like Eun Ji, her mother and chairman as well. I just really appreciate the writer doesn’t make them evil. Eun Ji and mom are greedy but not in an aggravating way. I think Eun Seok would be more interesting if he wasn’t so tolerant of them like a goody two shoes.

yea despite his blandness, he is interesting in that he is so straightforward and direct in his approach. find it amusing that he is aware of their antics but in a cheeky way keeping eunji around to spy on him. so rather than goody two shoes, it seems a bit cunning as in "keep your enemies closer" kind of philosophy. however, there is some amount of affection and he doesn't see them as aggravatingly evil where they would harm him. in contrast, he seems alarmed by shady mom and it is like his antenna is pinging "danger, danger, danger!" -- it would be nice to get more insight into why he is getting entangled with jenny so much.

 

yong man actually is annoying but he seems to be getting more funny with each episode -- where you aren't sure whether to whack his head or laugh at him. kind of the look that aunt had when he said that he wants a female secretary and eunji is rolling her eyes.

[marrez1]

2 hours ago, Lmangla said:

LOL @tulip06 ~ am enjoying reading your posts and take on the drama. it just cracks me up. sadly, it looks like kyung in will be young man's secretary. how the worlds collide. @celebrianna ~ am groaning at the idea of the romance between really dumb and sort of tubelight girl! hahahahha... like tulip06 noted, that would be one awkward family dinner!

 

 

 

Not so surprised by this romantic romance, it takes a little more drama in a drama; she will find him lazy at first, he will find her too authoritarian, then she will begin to find qualities and begin to be moved, then she will counter her true identity and grieves but she is already in love with him, finally he will start to change and love will win despite the family
But lol here the ex-husbands will end up in the same family, so kyung in will think so saying to herself that her husband is the ex husband of her sister-in-law, so funny

[tulip06]

@Lmangla  The trouble I have with Young Man, and that I have with his mother and the grandpa and Eun suk and Eunji and that whole family really (have I listed them all?): do none of them care that they lost a child?  A small child?   What is wrong with them?  they should still be grieving that loss.  It should have been a terrible shock and that grandmother who sent the girl so far away to school should be living the life of a buddhist nun to make up for her mistake!  Her father should be ashamed that he did not stop his daughter from being so awful and have become a vegetarian in shame!  Youngman should have gone to the warehouse then!  As for Eunji and Eunsuk, they are not directly involved, but they should still be feeling the sadness and be resolved to live properly.  What weird world is this that no one notices a child's death and their part in it?

[celebrianna]

2 hours ago, tulip06 said:

@Lmangla  The trouble I have with Young Man, and that I have with his mother and the grandpa and Eun suk and Eunji and that whole family really (have I listed them all?): do none of them care that they lost a child?  A small child?   What is wrong with them?  they should still be grieving that loss.  It should have been a terrible shock and that grandmother who sent the girl so far away to school should be living the life of a buddhist nun to make up for her mistake!  Her father should be ashamed that he did not stop his daughter from being so awful and have become a vegetarian in shame!  Youngman should have gone to the warehouse then!  As for Eunji and Eunsuk, they are not directly involved, but they should still be feeling the sadness and be resolved to live properly.  What weird world is this that no one notices a child's death and their part in it?

I don’t see why Eun Seok should be grieving like it was his child but I also don’t think that he didn’t grieve for the child when she died. The strange thing about life is that people generally move on from death in the family unless they nurse that grief and refuse to move on. It seems like Asians do remember the dead more than other cultures that I know of so I can’t imagine they just moved on from the little girl’s death. Don’t they usually recognize death anniversary? I imagine they probably do the same for that sweet little girl.

 

How long ago did the little girl die? Is it five years or less? In any case, I think the parents would feel it most just like Songah and her mom  but Young Man seem to not dwell on it. Perhaps there will be an upcoming scene that actually show Young Man grieved and perhaps even his mother. We don’t know yet. I know the mother doesn’t like Songah but maybe it will be revealed later on that she did feel guilty about her granddaughter’s death. I think there might be more sides of these characters and their past that we might learn more of later on. Just like we’re finding out more about Man Soo, perhaps more will come out about the past for the others as well.

 

@Lmangla, Eun Seok probably doesn’t see his aunt and cousins as a threat. Shady mom, on the other hand, is doing some quite dangerous things. That pickpocket actually caused Jenny to lose consciousness. It’s nuts that a supposed mom would do that to her own child. He also witnessed the very public terror-like attack on Jenny at her fashion show. This is a whole new level of craziness. I guess he must really like Jenny because I wouldn’t want to be involved with those people. However, for conscience sake it’s also not right to see evil things like that perpetrated against someone and just ignore it.

[Lmangla]

@tulip06 ~ like @celebrianna already noted, it has been little over 5 years since the child died. dong joo said that his wife and da seul died around the same time which is why their graves are close to each other. so everyone has plenty of time to grieve and move on. songah herself has come to the acceptance stage where she is no longer actively sad and is ready to move on with her life. actually that is something I am enjoying about the dong joo - songah romance. we are seeing them at a point where neither are bitter, angry, hurt or frustrated over the past like in most daily dramas. instead, they are sort of content and happy by themselves. so this romance in that sense a kind of bonus for them when it will happen.

 

and as for yongman + aunt and co, it looks like the writer is not making them super bad. so am guessing that it will come out that their style of grieving was to pretend or forget this child was not part of their lives, (basically some unhealthy approach to grieving).

 

11 hours ago, marrez1 said:

Not so surprised by this romantic romance, it takes a little more drama in a drama; she will find him lazy at first, he will find her too authoritarian, then she will begin to find qualities and begin to be moved, then she will counter her true identity and grieves but she is already in love with him, finally he will start to change and love will win despite the family

@marrez1 ~ if kyung in is to find qualities in yongman to be moved, am guessing that she will find that his very destructive style of mourning was to indulge in heavy partying and affairs as a coping mechanism. but rather than a romantic relationship, it would be far more interesting if they developed a mentor-mentee kind of relationship -- maybe they can start a business together where she will finally get to publish stuff. actually thought it would be kind of cool if she ended up with that private detective instead... lets see, it would be one very awkward dinner table if yongman becomes part of the family.

[celebrianna]

 Interesting episode today. I never thought I would see Man Soo more pathetic than I saw him today. I can never understand someone who persistently pursues someone who consistently rejects them. It’s very evident that Jenny doesn’t even like him as a person and she in fact said it to his face today and yet he wouldn’t give up. Apparently his approach is to quietly observe shady mom’s schemes against Jenny just as long as Jenny doesn’t get too hurt physically and continues to live in that happy bubble with shady mom. He disagrees with Eun Seok’s approach of telling Jenny what her shady mother is doing to her and encouraging Jenny to face reality head on. Even worse, despite seeing the bold handholding and hugging between Eun Seok and Jenny right in his presence, he still continues to pursue this hopeless and nonexistent relationship and arrogantly picks a fight, both verbal and physical, with Eun Seok who actually fights back and is in no way a coward. Hmmm. I’m beginning to wonder more about Eun Seok. He’s quite bold and daring and I wonder about his past. 

 

I saw the preview for the next episode and I really hope Jenny doesn’t believe anything her awful shady mom says. In anger it looks like she destroys her room and I’m now thinking I wonder if shady mom will try to get her committed to a psychiatric ward. I think she would sink that low. Eun Seok is back in Korea but he told Jenny if she needs him he could fly back to Japan on the weekend. All I’m hoping for is that Jenny truly start to wake up and stay alert.

[Lmangla]

@celebrianna ~ so am watching the episode and about halfway through. am thinking more like @tulip06 based on today's episode -- man soo's advances towards jenny has got more to do with his revenge scheme than actual romance. so compared to other dramas, this was one weird all 3 parties meeting scene. so when man soo meets eun seok and jenny, both of them are standing together as a couple holding hands. neither jenny or eun seok look bothered or embarrassed. in fact jenny is rather nonchalant and asks man soo to lie to her mom for her. it almost sounded like something you would ask your older brother to do and he also just nodded.

 

and when man soo saw them sitting in the park hugging, rather than a jealous look, there was a kind of sad sigh. and his conversation with eun seok was fascinating as it revealed several things. man soo doesn't even pretend that shady mom is good or that jenny is not in danger. instead, he says that eun seok's interference means jenny will be further locked up and there will be more danger and eun seok doesn't understand what he is playing with. he also said that he has seen jenny as a child grow into a woman -- so it sounded like a man describing a sister he grew up with. not exactly romantic vibes. so man soo has become even more intriguing. what exactly is his game?....

[celebrianna]

@Lmangla, I agree that Man Soo is shrouded in mystery but he still nevertheless comes off as pathetic in my eyes. If he’s scheming revenge I’m not impressed with his method though I would really like to understand his goal. Barring Man Soo’s hidden motive, whatever it might be, Eun Seok’s points still stand from his perspective and Jenny’s perspective. The guy is undoubtedly an unwanted interference in their lives and I think things might only get worse for everyone involved if he persists. Nevertheless, more than Man Soo interference, I’m influenced more by Jenny unwillingness or willingness to take control of her life. Like I don’t like to see Eun Seok get further involved with her if she doesn’t grow a backbone.

[Lmangla]

so I watched the other half and it got even intriguing. @celebrianna ~ am fascinated by the vibe between man soo and jenny when it is just the two of them because it is very different when shady mom is there. they are like kids who are on the same page -- there is a freedom between the two of them and they know each other but do care about each other. but there is zero romantic vibe. instead, it is like friends / siblings / coworkers. 

 

man soo is an interesting character because we don't know what's going on. there were subtle shades of what he was saying that hints the picture is far different than what jenny imagines. rather than play dumb, he basically tells her that he knows exactly what is going on. he does not try to dissuade her about the pickpocket or the firecracker incident. instead, he tells her that he knows everything but he has kept quiet. so that itself is very interesting because a lovesick puppy would try to encourage her that eun seok has got it all wrong and is playing with her mind. instead, he confirms shady mom is shady. why?

 

he said something very interesting -- truth can wait till we are ready to handle the misfortune. so the truth about shady mom is going to get even more worse. considering jenny is in lala land, his assessment is that she is not strong or smart enough to handle it and so she doesn't need to know till it is necessary. it is almost like a chess strategy. frankly, from what we have seen of jenny, he may totally be right. the girl didn't even think to check her phone. 

 

so rather than chasing her, it seems like he is staying close to ensure that jenny isn't sold off to some other old businessman for shady mom's greed -- thats what it felt like when he said that he can't stay away as it wasn't safe. basically jenny would totally lose her freedom if man soo decided to step away from this fiance box.

 

and yea, it would be great to have more info on eun seok because he really is bold. really hope that both man soo and eun seok get on the same team because then it would get really interesting. am loving this drama!